


A Children's Tragedy

by yuhaholic



Series: We're Young, But It's Just Us [2]
Category: Young Justice - All Media Types
Genre: F/F, F/M, M/M, and superhero stuff, fun fun stuff because there's Tim Drake and inter dimensional travel and, lots of fun heart to hearts
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2019-02-27
Updated: 2019-06-25
Packaged: 2019-11-06 08:55:57
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 6
Words: 16,917
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/17936735
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/yuhaholic/pseuds/yuhaholic
Summary: The team's all back together and it's going to be even better than before.++please read the first installment of the series before you read this one first!!





	1. The Prodigal Son Returns

**Author's Note:**

> alright baby boys lets get cracking,, here I have the much anticipated sequel to my critically acclaimed "Just Us", which had approximately, like, five readers  
> I'm joking, I've worked really hard on this and I hope that you all enjoy it.  
> all five of you

It takes a lot of restraint for Cassie to not punch Tim in the face. 

It has been nearly six months, which doesn’t seem like a lot, but it goes by very slowly when you’re counting the days. 

It’s been six months since Tim left, since he  _ abandoned _ the team, and he can’t possibly think that she would let him waltz right back in. 

“What are you doing here?” she asks instead. 

“What are  _ you _ doing here?” Tim asks. His voice is deeper and his jawline is sharper and he actually seems a little taller which is odd because, again, he really hasn’t been gone for that long. 

“I asked you first,” Cassie says. 

“I asked you second,” Tim says. 

Cassie can’t help but crack a smile. 

She pulls him into a tight hug and he immediately wraps his arms around her. She inhales as much of his scent as she can because he smells like coffee and sawdust and home. When it starts getting hard to breathe, she realizes that she started to cry and knows that those familiar teary blotches would appear on his shirt. Suddenly, she’s not angry at him at all. She just wants to hold onto him and never let him go.

“It’s really nice to see you,” he whispers into her hair. 

“God, Tim, we missed you so much,” Cassie says. “We thought you were dead.”

“I know,” Tim says. “I’m sorry. I’m so sorry.”

Cassie pulls away and wipes at her face before leading him into the apartment. “Conner’s at, um, lacrosse practice right now, he’ll be back really soon.”

“So, if Conner isn’t here, why are you here?” Tim asks. He takes a seat at the kitchen table. “Do you live here now?”

“No, I’m just hanging out right now so my mom can’t force me to do homework,” Cassie says, sitting down across from Tim. “Where have you been, Tim? Why did you come back?”

Tim looks at his hands for a bit. He knows that her amiable mood isn’t going to last for forever and she’ll eventually drag this all into a fight sometime later on but he’s not going to push it. “You know that there are other Earths, right?”

“Yeah, fifty-two. Bart’s told me about them,” Cassie says. They look at each other for a bit before her eyes widen and she slams her hands on the table. “Oh my god, you were on another Earth?”

“I received a message from the Oracle of Earth-23,” Tim tells her. “Their Justice League went evil and took over the world and they were living in a dystopian dictatorship.”

Cassie stares at him. “Holy shit. Did the Reach -”

“No, the Reach had nothing to do with it,” Tim says, and Cassie lets out a relieved breath. “Batman just went crazy. Oracle asked for me to help her take the Justice League down.”

Cassie crosses her arms and leans back in her chair. “Okay. Alright. And you did that? You helped them? And now you’re back and we’re done with that whole adventure?”

“Yes,” Tim says slowly. 

“Yeah, that didn’t sound promising at all but I’m just gonna put a pin in it for now. Are you hungry?” Cassie says. She gets up and starts moving around the kitchen, pulling things out of the pantry and plugging in the microwave. When she turns back, Tim is still just sitting there, staring at her with an unreadable expression on his face. “What?”

Tim shakes his head and smiles a little. “I missed you so much, Cass.”

“Aw.” Cassie almost feels like crying again and smiles back at him. “I missed you too.”

She ends up making tea since they’re the only two one the team who ever actually liked tea and shows Tim a teapot that she’s gotten while he was gone. He compliments it because he genuinely thinks that it’s cute. 

“You know, I never realized how much I needed you until you left,” Cassie says, stirring sugar into her tea. “It was like, I always thought that you and Conner were best buds and Bart’s, like, my kid, and we’re a team and all, but I never considered  _ us _ to be particularly close, and then all of a sudden, you were gone and there was this huge gaping hole in my life.”

“We are  _ all  _ best friends,” Tim tells her earnestly. “Core four, alright? The four of us forever, the four of us or nothing. Just us.” 

Cassie tears up again but she blinks rapidly so that none of the tears can fall. 

“Have you gone to see Batman yet?” she asks. “He’s been beating himself up about losing you this whole time. You know he loves you just as much as Damian and Nightwing.” 

“Yeah, I know,” Tim sighs. “I’m too traumatized by his evil doppelgänger to see him just yet. I’ve only been back for, like, an hour. But, hey, speaking of which, how’s Damian doing?” 

Cassie smiles. “He’s great, man. Jaime got him hooked on Zorro and it’s the cutest thing in the world. He won’t admit it but I think he likes being Robin.” 

“Good for him,” Tim says. 

“ _ Good for him _ ,” Cassie parrots, raising her eyebrows. “I thought you hated him.” 

“It’s been a long time,” Tim says. “I missed everyone. Some more than others, obviously, but still. I was on a different Earth.” 

“That’s so cool,” Cassie says. She rests her chin on her fist. “I mean, it’s not cool that you had to save it from the evil Justice League, it’s just super cool that you were able to actually go to another Earth.” 

“Maybe I’ll take you someday,” Tim says. 

Cassie’s entire face lights up. “Are you serious? You would take me to another Earth?” 

Tim shrugs. “Yeah, why not? You could help out a little.” 

“You really saved their world, huh?” Cassie asks. 

“I did my best,” Tim says. “Most revolutions take a while. You have no idea how long I was gone.” 

“Six months,” Cassie says immediately. “You were gone for six months.” 

“No, I wasn’t,” Tim says. Cassie narrows her eyes at him because she has no idea how he can spin that argument. She literally has a countdown on her phone of how many days he’s been gone and it’s pretty close to six months. “The closer you are to a strong gravitational pull, the slower time passes. Do you understand?”

Cassie blinks slowly and takes a sip of her tea. “I might, keep going.” 

“This other Earth that I was on, Earth-23, is further away from a black hole than we are,” Tim says and Cassie keeps staring at him blankly so he grabs a napkin from the middle of the table and a pen. “This is the black hole that we’re closest to. V616 Mon.” He draws a big, dark blob near the end of the napkin. “This is where we are in relation to it, three thousand light years away.” He draws a haphazard circle about halfway across the napkin and puts a heart in it. “Earth-23 is here, at six thousand light years away.” He draws another circle at the other edge of the napkin. “Because we’re closer to the black hole, the gravitational pull is stronger and time moves slower here. Time moves like this for us.” He slowly draws revolutions around the heart circle. “This is how time moves on Earth-23.” The revolutions he draws around the other circle are significantly quicker. “Time is relative to gravity.”

It takes a while for her to get it but, eventually, things click into place, and she leans forward. “How long, Tim?”

“Three years,” he says. 

“I knew you looked taller,” Cassie blurts with a smile on her face. “Your voice is deeper, too. You lost some baby fat.”

Tim laughs. “I tell you that I’ve been gone for three years and all you have to say is that I got taller.”

“Well, yeah,” Cassie says. “Last time I saw you, you were, like, five six? How tall are you now?”

“Five ten,” Tim says flatly, but it’s obvious that he’s proud of it. 

Cassie gasps. “You’re as tall as Conner!” 

As if on cue, the door opens and they can hear keys falling into the bowl on the table by the door and Conner walks in, dropping his coat on the couch. He looks up like he’s going to say something but stops when he sees Tim and he just stands there for a good minute. 

Tim stands up. “Hey, man -”

Conner’s fist collides with his jaw and he stumbles backwards a couple steps. Cassie’s eyes widen and she takes a sip of her tea, excited to watch this exchange. She’s glad that someone gets to punch Tim. 

“I deserved that,” Tim says, holding a hand to his face. 

“Yeah. You did,” Conner agrees. “What the hell, dude? You can’t just leave like that. I get it, alright, if you need space, but at least let us know that you’re alive. Let us know that you’re  _ okay _ .”

Tim nods. “I’ll keep that in mind.”

“Good, because if you ever do that again and you’re not already dead, I’m going to kill you,” Conner says. He glares at Tim for a while longer before pulling him into a tight hug. “I love you, man.”

“Love you too, buddy,” Tim says, patting Conner’s back. 

“Why don’t you tell him where you’ve been?” Cassie suggests. “He’s gonna love it.”

Conner pulls back and frowns at Tim. “What’s she talking about? Were you in Hawaii? You promised that we would go to Hawaii together.”

“I didn’t go to Hawaii,” Tim says. “I was on Earth-23.”

“What?” Conner looks at Cassie. “What?”

“Wait, okay, how come I got a whole crazy build up and then a lecture on time gravity relativity and all he gets is ‘Earth-23,’?” Cassie says. 

“Because you understand build up and can appreciate drama,” Tim says. “Conner is simple. He’ll get a simple explanation.”

“I am not simple,” Conner protests. 

“Of course you’re not,” Tim says, patting his arm. He looks at Cassie. “Don’t tell him about the time gravity relativity, he’ll get confused and then he’ll get upset and might cry.”

“Got it.” Cassie winks at Tim and then gets up. “You want some tea, Kon?”

“No, I hate tea,” Conner says. He sits down at the table with Tim. “So, what were you doing on Earth-23?”

“I had to help the Oracle overthrow the Justice League, which was an evil dictatorship that took over the planet,” Tim says. “Just, you know. Regular stuff.”

“Really?” Conner looks impressed. “Were we evil?”

“Yeah, um, Bart wasn’t there and I’m not sure where Jaime was,” Tim says. “But the three of us were crazy evil psychos. It was terrifying.”

Cassie returns to her seat beside Conner’s and hands him a glass of water. “If you came up with a contingency plan for the Justice League and they find out about it, you’re gonna get bageled.”

“It wasn’t a contingency plan, it was a battle plan critical to the revolution,” Tim says. “And it wasn’t for  _ our _ Justice League, it was for the evil guys.” 

“Did you kill them?” Conner asks. 

Tim shakes his head. “Not all of them, just the important guys. The rest are locked up. The Oracle is good, though. She’s got it covered, and if they need me, they’ll just call.”

“So, was the Oracle just as hot over there as she is here?” Conner asks, grinning. Cassie smacks his arm. “What, I’m just asking!” 

“Well, you know, she’s Barbara,” Tim says. He shrugs and looks down at his tea. “I could never see her like that, she’s like my older sister.”

“A hot older sister,” Conner goads. 

“Conner,” Cassie snaps. 

Conner laughs and tosses an arm over her shoulders. “Calm down, you know you’re the only girl for me.”

Tim looks between the two of them in mild disgust but mostly amusement. It’s been too long since he’s had to witness their weird flirting and he’s surprised to admit that he’s kind of missed it. 

“Are you going to stay here for a while before going back to the manor?” Cassie asks Tim. “You could stay with me and my mom, if you want, or with Jaime.”

Tim sighs and shakes his head. “I’d love to spend more time with you guys, but I think I should see Bruce. I should have gone to him first but I just thought it would be nicer to see someone else’s face first.”

“We’ll see you tomorrow, then,” Cassie says. “Bart will probably pee his pants when he finds out you’re back.”

“Make sure he’s wearing a diaper, then,” Tim says. He leans over to kiss Cassie on the cheek and hugs Conner. “I can’t tell you how good it was to see you guys again. I’ll see myself out.”

“Good luck,” Conner calls after him. 

“Thanks, man,” Tim says, opening the door. “I’ll need it.”

  
  



	2. Ready and Standing By

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I saw fan art for the core four on Tumblr and I cried so that's how my day is going

Coming home to Wayne Manor this time is a lot different than when he would sneak into his bedroom after staying out later than he was allowed to. Bruce yells at him and Dick yells at him and Alfred gives him some stern words that, for some reason, feel even worse than the yelling and Damian just gives him a look of general disdain. He stays at the cave because Wayne Manor is just too much for him to see again, and Bart and Conner decide to stay with him, since neither of them really have homes either. Cassie hangs out for as long as she can before her mother calls her home. 

The door to his room slides open with a creaking sound. “Hey, sleepyhead. Do you want McDonald’s for breakfast?” 

Tim leaps out from under his covers, wraps his thighs around Conner’s neck, and whacks him on the head, sending both of them to the ground. 

“Do you not like McDonald’s anymore?” Conner wheezes, pushing Tim off of him. 

“Jesus, Kon, you can’t just walk in like that!” Tim snaps, scrambling away like a crab. He scowls at Conner. “At least knock first!” 

Conner frowns and rubs his neck. “We never knock.” 

“Yeah, well, now we do,” Tim says. He sighs and runs a hand over his face. “You forget that I was just on another Earth where you were evil and we were enemies.” 

“I’m sorry,” Conner says. 

Tim shakes his head. “You just have to be more careful, man.” 

“What exactly did you do over there?” Conner asks quietly. “Like, I know you saved them from a dictatorship or whatever, but what did you do?” 

“I helped the Oracle organize attacks on the evil Justice League so they could gain enough control to overthrow them.” 

“Did you ever meet me?” Conner asks. “Earth-23 me?” 

“I did,” Tim tells him. 

“What was he like?” 

“He was so much like you that I almost couldn’t kill him,” Tim says flatly. “The way he talked, the things he said, the way he looked at me, it was so you. There were some times that I could have sworn it was really you, Kon. But then he would go and do some dumb shit and I was reminded of what I was there for.” 

Conner stares at him. “You killed me?” 

“I didn’t kill  _ you _ ,” Tim says. “I killed something else.” 

“Jesus, man,” Conner breathes out. “That’s so rough. Did you get hurt over there?” 

Tim looks over at Conner, slightly amused. “I get hurt everywhere.” 

Conner raises his eyebrows carefully. “Show me?” 

Tim contemplates it for a bit before tugging his shirt off. He’s too skinny and too pale and he knows that. He tries not to flinch when Conner lightly presses his fingers over the pink skin stretched too tightly over the left side of his rib cage, a silent question. 

“Acid,” he says, keeping it short. He lets Conner run his hand down to dips in his abdomen, the red marks blooming across his stomach. “Bullet wounds. Electrocution.” 

Conner frowns. He’s touching Tim like he’s made of glass, like he could break if he pushes just a little to hard. “How?” 

“They had me for a couple weeks,” Tim says, shrugging. “They didn’t break me, though.” 

“I’m sorry,” Conner says when he pulls his hand back. “I’m so sorry.” 

“It’s not your fault.” Tim pulls his shirt back on. “I can handle a few scars.” 

“You shouldn’t have to.” 

Tim leans back on his bed. “It’s fine. It happened. We keep going. There’s no reason to feel bad about it.”

“I wish I could have protected you,” Conner says. 

“Sure,” Tim scoffs. “Because what I needed was protection.” 

“I know you don’t need it, but I want to protect you anyways,” Conner tells him. “You’re my best friend, I don’t want you to get hurt.” 

“Dude, stop worrying about it,” Tim says. He doesn’t know how to deal with Soft Conner TM . “I’m back. I’m good.” 

Conner doesn’t look convinced but he backs down. “Alright.” 

“ _ Please _ don’t try to psychoanalyze me,” Tim requests. Conner snorts. “I know you’ve been spending a lot of time with Cassie. She does that.” 

“I’m too dumb to psychoanalyze anyone,” Conner states. “I don’t even know what she’s talking about half the time.” 

“So, what’s, uh, going on with you two?” Tim asks idly. He’s been dying to know. They’re way touchier and flirty now than they were before he left and Bart had hinted at them being a couple more than once. “You guys together?” 

Conner clears his throat. “Couldn’t slip that past you, huh?” 

“I’m the world’s greatest detective. You can’t slip anything past me,” Tim says. “Spill. What happened?” 

“It’s on the down low,” Conner says. “Her mom doesn’t want her to date and Wonder Woman beat me up when she saw us kissing so pretty much only Bart and Jaime know about it.” 

Tim honestly has no idea how to feel about it. Cassie and Conner are his best friends, his only friends, quite frankly. He loves both of them so much but he just doesn’t really know what to think. It’s a bit weird but not unexpected. He can’t bring himself to be happy for them, though. It’s odd and he’s not sure what it means. 

“I won’t tell anyone,” he says after a way too long moment of silence. 

“Thanks, man,” Conner says. “I appreciate it.” 

“So, um.” Tim has had straight friends before but he never really considered Conner straight until now and he doesn’t know what to say. “How far have you guys gotten?” 

Conner rolls his eyes and pushes Tim’s shoulder. “You’re gross.” 

“I was just asking!” Tim says, forcing a grin on his face. God, this is so awkward. Does Conner feel how awkward it is too? “Are you guys using protection?” 

“I’m going to kick you out.” 

“It’s a serious question!” 

 

“Why do you think we were all called here?” Bart asks, rocking back and forth on his feet. “Do you think they’re gonna disband us? Five bucks says it’s a super secret important mission.” 

“Honestly, it’s probably just Dick throwing a surprise welcome home party for Tim,” Conner says. He’s leaning against the kitchen counter, a slice of pizza in his hand. “He’s been asking me about it for days.” 

Cassie raises an eyebrow. “Should we get prepared for another lap dance?” 

“No,” Conner snaps. “There will be no more lap dances.”

“I love your lap dances though!” Bart says. 

“Hold up.” Jaime frowns at them. “What lap dance?” 

“It’s nothing, they’re just being assholes,” Conner grumbles. 

“He gave Tim a lap dance for his birthday last year,” Bart whispers to his boyfriend. “It was amazing.” 

Tim drags Damian into the room as the tube announces their arrival, clearly exhausted. “Sorry I’m late, Damian didn’t want to come.” 

“ _ Ya, chamaco,  _ you’re breaking my heart,” Jaime says dramatically, putting a hand over his chest. “I thought you loved seeing me.” 

Damian’s face burns red and he scowls. “Whatever.” 

“Is Bruce here yet? Do we know what’s going on?” Tim asks, moving to stand beside Conner. 

“Nah.” Bart shakes his head. “He’s always fashionably late, you know that.” 

Tim snorts. “I sure do.” 

“You got a haircut,” Conner remarks, running a hand over Tim’s hair. 

“Uh, yeah. It felt like it was needed,” Tim says, leaning away. 

“You look hot,” Bart pipes up. “Ten out of ten, would bang if I was a top.” 

“I’m literally  _ begging _ you to shut up,” Cassie says. 

The tube announces the arrival of Batman and the kids all straighten up to greet him. 

“I have an assignment for you,” Batman says sharply, leading them to the display screen in the team room. He turns it on so they can see a picture of a smudgy, pale girl with a chart of her stats and a small treatise of the mission. 

Bart nudges Jaime with his elbow. “I called it.” 

“Yeah, man,” Jaime replies, tossing an arm over Bart’s shoulders. “Remind me to give you five bucks later.” 

“You could give me something else.” Bart wraps his arms around Jaime’s waist and grins up at him. 

“You guys are gross,” Damian states loudly. 

“A metahuman called Mist Girl escaped the DEO yesterday,” Batman says, making it obvious that he’s fed up with them. “She’s a valuable asset and I’ve been asked to find her and bring her back.” 

“So what you’re saying is they asked you and you don’t want to do it so you’re dumping it on literally anyone else,” Tim says flatly. Batman looks at him pointedly. “No, hey, it’s whatever, man. I’m not even on this team.” 

Cassie frowns. “Yes, you are. You’ll always be on the team.” 

“I’m not,” Tim says, shrugging. “Robin is a part of the team and I’m not Robin anymore.” 

“You’re always Robin,” Bart says, holding a hand up to tap Tim’s chest, “in here.” 

Tim swats his hand away. “Shut up.” 

“Whoever you are, or whoever you choose to be, you’re on this mission,” Batman says. “I want you to lead it.” 

“Whoa, whoa, whoa,” Cassie says suddenly, frowning. “What the hell? Why does he get to lead?” 

“He was leader before and now he’s back,” Batman says. “I’d like it if things go back to normal.” 

“We can’t just act like he didn’t disappear on us for six months without notice,” Cassie argues. It takes guts to stand up to Batman so no one else says a thing. “He left us high and dry, and who had to pull the team together when he was gone? Me.  _ I _ lead this team.  _ I _ got us to where we are now and, I’m sorry, but I think I did better than he ever did.” 

“Hey now,” Tim says, holding his hands up. 

“Tim, bud, I love you to bits, but you left. It’s not your team anymore. It’s mine,” Cassie says. “I’m not giving it up.” 

Batman squints at her for a bit. “I’ll let you figure this out amongst yourself, but Tim is to remain on the team for now. Get this done as quickly and quietly as you can.” 

“We’ve literally never done anything quickly or quietly, but we’ll keep that in mind,” Bart says, forcing a smile. “Thanks for stopping by, Bats. We’ll keep you updated. Bye bye.” 

“Alright.” Batman gives them all some sort of concerned look before he leaves. 

Jaime lets out a low whistle. “Y’all make me so stressed. I’m gonna go have some milk.” 

“I love when he says ‘y’all’ it’s like he’s my own little Southern gentleman,” Bart gushes to Tim before following his boyfriend to the kitchen. 

“Cass, I don’t want to rock the boat,” Tim says. “You’re right. You’re the leader and it should stay that way.” 

Cassie lets out a relieved sigh. “Thank god, I don’t want to fight with you.” 

“No, please fight,” Damian says. “You would definitely win and also, hopefully, ruin his self esteem.” 

Conner snorts and reaches out to Damian, who high fives him. 

“Okay, come with me, let’s train for a bit while they figure out what we’re doing about Mist Girl,” Tim says, grabbing Damian by the arm. He winks at Cassie. “It’s all you,  _ team leader. _ ” 

Cassie fakes a laugh and turns her attention to the display screen as Tim and Damian leave. Conner comes up behind her and wraps his arms around her, resting his chin on the top of her head. 

“Did I come on too strong?” Cassie asks quietly. “Should I have just let him take the mission?”

“Absolutely not,” Conner tells her confidently. “I think you’re a much better leader than him.”

Cassie presses her lips into a thin line. “What if he’s better now though? He’s been leading a revolution for the past three years. All I’ve done is keep Bart and Jaime from making out in every closet we come across.”

“Maybe he’s better at leading revolutions, but  _ you’re _ better at leading  _ us _ ,” Conner tells her. “That’s what counts, right?”

Cassie turns around and puts her hands on Conner’s shoulders, resting her forehead against his chest. “You go get changed, I’ll take care of this with Bart.” 

“Okay.” Conner presses a kiss to the top of her head. “See you in ten.”

“Yeah,” Cassie says, patting his arm. “I’ll see you.”

They part ways and Cassie falls into the desk chair in front of the display screen. 

  
  



	3. The Ghost

Cassie has Tim hack into the CCTV cameras in all of the cities surrounding the desert that the DEO is located and Bart combs through as many as he can as quickly has he can to compile any sightings of the Mist Girl. The DEO had tried to install a tracker in her, but her physical shape is intangible, so it’s pretty much useless. 

They find footage of her in Tucson, Redrock Canyon, and El Paso, and Cassie splits them up to check out each city in pairs. Conner and Tim go to Tucson, Bart and Cassie go to Redrock Canyon, and Jaime brings Damian to stay in El Paso with him. 

Tim is surprised at how quickly everything gets done. Before he left, it was almost always a mess, with him yelling orders and Conner or Bart deliberately ignoring him. The team is more mature now. They listen when Cassie tells them what to do and they work hard to get it done. Cassie is a better leader than him. It’s obvious. 

He’s not sure why she paired them up how she did. He thought he’d be with Damian, and the two couples would work together, it seemed like the obvious choice. But he sees her poke Damian in the side and whisper something to him with a grin on her face before sending him off to the tubes to get ready. 

He asks Conner about it when they’re getting dinner at a local restaurant after settling into the townhome that they’d rented in South Tucson. 

“Damian doesn’t listen to anyone except Blue,” Conner tells him. “You didn’t hear it from me but I think he has a crush on him.” 

Tim’s eyes widen and he stares at Conner in disbelief. “Oh my god, no!”

“It’s adorable, his face gets red whenever he calls him ‘chamaco,’” Conner continues. “Cassie bugs him but she’s nice about it. All of us know Blue would never see him as a romantic prospect, especially Damian.”

“Good,” Tim says, crossing his arms. “Damian is way too young.”

Conner laughs a little. “You’re taking this so seriously.” 

“He’s my little brother,” Tim says. 

“You’re related by delusion,” Conner reminds him. 

Tim throws a french fry at Conner, who catches it and pops it in his mouth. 

“Anyways,” Tim says, resting his chin on his fist, “I’m gonna canvas the area and set up metahuman detectors.”

“I guess I’ll help you,” Conner says. 

Tim raises an eyebrow. “You  _ guess _ ?” 

“I mean, yeah, since you asked so nicely,” Conner replies, grinning. 

“Well, I wouldn’t want you to go out of your way,” Tim says. 

“Oh, it’s nothing, I’d do anything to help out a fan,” Conner says. “I am Superboy after all.”

Tim drops his napkin and leans back in his chair. “I will punch you in the face.”

“Go for it, it’s hot when you get aggressive,” Conner says. Tim lets out an exasperated sigh, fully gets up from his seat, and starts walking away. “Hey, wait, you’re the one paying for this, get back here!”

“You should have thought about that before you asked me to partake in platonic BDSM with you!” Tim shoots back, but he hasn’t left the restaurant yet. 

Conner can’t help but laugh. “It wouldn’t be completely platonic.” 

“Cassie would kill me,” Tim states. 

“Cassie is very open minded,” Conner counters. 

Tim stares at Conner, not entirely sure what he’s supposed to do with that information, and shakes his head. “I don’t even know how you expect me to respond to that.”

“I expect you to come back and finish your grilled cheese,” Conner says, gesturing at the table in front of him. 

Tim sighs and reluctantly returns to his seat. “It’s grilled spinach. I’m lactose intolerant.”

“That’s not spinach, it’s not green,” Conner argues. “Also since when have you been lactose intolerant?”

“Of course it’s green.  _ Also _ , I’m half Chinese, I’ve been lactose intolerant my whole life,” Tim scoffs, using a knife to poke his sandwich open. “God, people are looking at us now.” 

“And what about it?” Conner says, raising his eyebrows. “I never thought you were someone who cared about what other people think.” 

“You knew Damian for two weeks and I had an identity crisis and ran away to another Earth, of course I care what people think,” Tim says. “I’m probably the most self conscious person on the team.” 

“Jaime’s pretty bashful,” Conner points out. 

Tim rolls his eyes. “Jaime has his own personal fanboy who loves him no matter what he does, he can afford to be bashful.” 

Conner laughs. “What are you saying, you want your own personal fanboy as well?” 

“No!” Tim exclaims. “I mean, it wouldn’t hurt, but it’s definitely not what I need right now, considering I  _ just  _ got back from another Earth where I had to kill my friends and fight against my father figure. There’s a lot going on, man.” 

“You should maybe talk to someone,” Conner suggests. “I hear Harley Quinn is a psychologist.” 

“I’m not talking to Harley Quinn,” Tim says. “She would kill me.” 

“She would try,” Conner says. “You’re insecure, sure, and a little skinny, but you’re not easy to kill.”

Tim manages a smile and shrugs. “You got me there.”

“Look, I’m not Dr. Quinzel nor am I our esteemed Cassie Sandsmark,” Conner says carefully. “But you can talk to me if you want.”

“Not now, Kon,” Tim says. He pats Conner’s hand. “Not while we’re on a mission.”

“We’ll put a pin in it,” Conner says and Tim nods reluctantly. 

They sit in silence, just eating for a little bit. Thinking that it might make Tim laugh, Conner dips his finger in his ketchup and smears it across Tim’s cheek. Tim closes his eyes and takes a deep breath before Conner leans across the table to lick the ketchup off. 

Tim laughs. 

 

“I just wanna say, it’s super cool that you’re including me in your top secret superhero stuff,” Paco says. “I’ve always wanted to know what it is that you do on your weekends, but I didn’t know if it was okay to ask because I didn’t want to invade your privacy or anything.”

Jaime clears his throat and rests his arm on the window of Paco’s freshly bought 2004 red Kia Spectra. “It’s really you that’s doing us a favor here, man.”

“I don’t see why we can’t do this on our own,” Damian pipes up from the back seat. “We’re known in El Paso, no one will mind if we snoop around.”

“We’re supposed to be incognito so the Mist Girl doesn’t get scared or anything, she’s running from the people we work for,” Jaime says. “And, also, I don’t really think she’s here anyways because this seems like something that would fall into the hands of Tim or Bart.”

“Just because I’m younger than Allen doesn’t mean that I can’t handle missions like he can,” Damian says. 

Jaime sinks in his seat a bit. “I know,  _ chamaco _ , this has nothing to do with you.” 

“Also, who is this kid, and why does he hate Bart?” Paco asks, making a left turn. 

“I’m Robin,” Damian answers for himself. “And I don’t hate Allen.”

Paco looks at Jaime with raised eyebrows and Jaime just sighs and gives him a shrug. 

“Alright,” Paco says. “If you guys are doing this in pairs of two, how come you’re not with Bart?”

“Cassie made the decisions and I respect her,” Jaime replies. “She’s with Bart, they work well together.”

“He knows Cassie  _ and _ Bart?” Damian asks. “How much does he know? Do you tell him everything? This is extremely dangerous.”

“Uh, yeah, Bart went to school with us last year,” Jaime explains to Damian. “And he met Cassie at Bart’s birthday party, which you were also invited to.”

“He is a civilian,” Damian hisses. “He can’t know this kind of knowledge, he could be a liability and there’s a big chance that he could get hurt.”

“Okay, you’re, like, nine -”

“I’m ten!” 

“- whatever, and you grew up without a family or friends, so I don’t expect you to understand this, but I was raised to share pretty much everything with my family, and Paco is my cousin, so yeah, I tell him about stuff,” Jaime says. “Trust me, if he’s in danger, I’ll protect him.”

“Telling him about this is against protocol,” Damian says. “Does my father know about this?”

“Oh, shit, he pulled the ‘my father’ card,” Paco says, a little impressed. “Who’s your father, Robin?”

“His dad is Batman, and no, I haven’t gotten the opportunity to tell fucking  _ Batman _ about my cousin Paco, but that doesn’t even matter,” Jaime says. He pulls his phone out of his pocket and sends an SOS text to Bart. “Just chill, alright,  _ chamaco _ ? Everything’s gonna be fine.”

Damian crosses his arms and glares out the window. “Fine.” 

“Are most ten year olds this bratty?” Paco asks Jaime. 

“Hell if I know, man,” Jaime replies. 

**bart:** lol baby bird driving u crazy??

**jaime <3: ** not yet but i’m getting the feeling that he will

**bart:** he’s in love w u he’ll shut up if u ask nicely

**jaime <3: ** i’m not gonna ask him to shut up

**bart:** why

**bart:** i do it all the time

**bart:** he never listens tho bc he hates me or whatever

**jaime <3: ** he doesn’t hate you

**bart:** he hates me bc he’s in love w u and ur fucking me and he hates that

**jaime <3: ** oh my god

**bart:** i’m right and u know it!! lol

**jaime <3: ** how is it going for you and cassie over there?

**bart:** uh p good

**bart:** i was able to isolate the psychic frequency mist girl makes when she does her funky mist thing so we’re tracking the signal

**jaime <3: ** i have no idea what that means but i love it when you do nerdy things

**bart:** careful, wouldn’t want to make ur little side hoe jealous

**bart:** want me to send u the frequency thing tho? i’m sending it to tim i’m sure baby bird could figure it out

**jaime <3: ** i mean sure

**jaime <3: ** ok i gotta go

**bart:** luv u :*

**bart:** expect many kisses when we get back

**jaime <3: ** i still owe you those five bucks

**bart:** MANY MANY KISSES!!!!!!!!!!

“Hey, can you stop sexting your boyfriend for two seconds and help me with this?” Cassie snaps, shoving Bart’s shoulder. She’s holding a handheld device he made like it’s a bird, in delicate hands about a foot away from her body. “I don’t even know what I’m supposed to do.” 

Bart sighs, shoving his phone into his pocket, and takes the device from Cassie. “Just keep walking until it starts beeping a lot. It’s like a metal detector but for cute girls who escaped the DEO.”

“You gotta wonder why they were keeping her locked up,” Cassie mutters. She follows behind Bart, her hands shoved in her pockets. “Like, nothing in her file implied that she’s dangerous or could be a threat to anyone. Why was she in captivity?” 

“Too powerful for her own good,” Bart suggests. “Maybe she couldn’t control herself. Maybe they were afraid she would do something on accident.” 

“I just don’t like the idea of keeping innocent people in cages,” Cassie says. 

“You’re preaching to the choir, babe,” Bart says, giving her a pointed look. “I spent a lot of my life behind bars.” 

“You escaped, though,” Cassie says. “Just like she did. I’m sure she had a really good reason to escape. Not to bag on our own government, but I wouldn’t put it past the DEO to mistreat metahumans.” 

“You’re not calling off the mission, are you?” Bart asks. “Because I worked really hard on this and I’m gonna be super pissed if you made me waste time that I could have spent with Jaime.” 

Cassie looks at Bart with disgust. “You spend way too much time with him anyways, you need to learn how to be independent.” 

“I am independent. I just love him,” Bart says. Cassie rolls her eyes. “Come on, you and Conner are way worse.” 

“Conner and I are nothing like you and Jaime,” Cassie states. “We can totally function without each other. You shouldn’t have to rely on someone to make you happy.” 

Bart looks at Cassie, perplexed. “I can be happy without Jaime. He isn’t the only reason I’m happy. The point is that I want to be happy  _ with  _ him.” 

“Okay, whatever,” Cassie says. 

“Dude, if I knew how to psychoanalyze, I would be ripping your ass right now,” Bart tells her. “But I honestly have no idea what any of that meant.” 

“Focus on the mission, Bart,” Cassie snaps. 

Bart rolls his eyes and looks back down at his device. “Damn. Are you on menopause or something?”

Cassie takes a deep breath. “I swear to God, baby, if you keep talking about this, I am going to hurt you and you are not going to like it.”

“I love it when you talk dirty,” Bart says, looking down at Cassie with bright eyes. She glares at him and he barrels on. “Anyways, I’m getting a little something from over there, come on.”

“How can you tell?” Cassie asks. “It’s not doing anything.”

Bart shows her the little screen on the device. “You see how the scale is picking up a little when I hold it in this direction?” he says and Cassie nods. “We keep walking in this direction and see if the signal gets stronger, if it doesn’t, we keep looking somewhere else.”

“Are you serious? That’s going to take forever,” Cassie whines. 

“Would you rather go over every single square inch of this town and the surrounding desert?” Bart snaps. Cassie rolls her eyes. “I thought so. Now, come on, this is going to be a long night.”

It’s well into the early hours of the morning when the device starts beeping in a staccato beat. Cassie takes a minute to wake up, since she’d been spacing out for the better part of their journey. Bart points in the direction of a cave opening in the cliff that they’re approaching. 

“This is like that one Scooby Doo movie in the desert,” Bart says. “Not the one with the aliens, the one in the canyon.”

“Yeah,  _ Specter of Shadow _ , I’m familiar,” Cassie mutters in response. She taps her bulletproof arm bands together for good luck as she peers into the cave. “Shit, okay. Are we going in?”

Bart hands her the device. “You go in first, I’ll let the others know that we found something and follow you in a bit. She’ll probably feel more safe if it’s just you.”

“Okay. See you soon.” 

They bump fists and Cassie heads into the cave. She’s about twenty feet from the cave opening when it starts getting hard to see so she pulls her flashlight out of her back pocket and turns it on. Canyons, deserts, rocks, caves, none of that has ever really been her scene, so she’s not too excited to be delving deep into a big ass rock. The walls of the cave start to get damp and she can hear the distant drip drop of some more water somewhere else in the cave. 

Eventually, not too deep in, she starts to see another light source and finds herself in a staring contest with a smudgy, almost transparent girl, sitting on the wet rock floor beside a fluorescent lamp. 

“Hi,” Cassie says and it reverberates quietly through the cave. “Are you okay?” 

“Who are you?” The girl’s mouth moves but it takes a while for the sound to follow. 

“I’m Wonder Girl, I’m with the Justice League,” Cassie says. “Can you tell me who you are?” 

“I don’t know.” 

“Okay, that’s okay.” Cassie crouches to be at eye level with the girl but doesn’t sit because she doesn’t want her butt to get wet. “I’m here to help you. Will you let me do that?” 

The girl just blinks at her. 

“You’re a long way from home and I just want to get you back,” Cassie continues. 

“I won’t go back,” the girl says. “I won’t go.” 

Cassie nods. “Okay. I won’t make you go back, but will you come with me?” 

“Where?” the girl asks. 

“Somewhere safe,” Cassie tells her. “A cave, a little bit like this one, but with a kitchen and beds and people who will never hurt you. Are you okay with that?” 

The girl seems to think about it for a bit before nodding. Cassie stands up and holds out her hand, and the girl delicately reaches out to take it. Her hand is barely there and it almost feels like Cassie is holding a bubble or a cloud. 

They make it out of the cave and Bart greets them with a big smile. 

“Hi, I’m Impulse, you must be Mist Girl,” he says. “I’ve heard a lot about you.” 

“Hello,” the girl says. 

“Tell the others to meet us at the cave,” Cassie says. “Let’s get going.” 


	4. A Dangerous Pastime, I Know

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> this is heavily non-dialogue and we all know I'm only good at dialogue so bear with me

Cassie has Bart set up a room for Mist Girl and get her settled while she sits with Tim in his detective station, looking up anything they can on her history. 

“Bruce is going to be pissed at you if you don’t give her to him,” Tim says, his fingers flying over the keyboard. Images and pages are popping up all over his monitors. “He’s gonna try to take her from us.”

“You’ve fought him before, we can do it again,” Cassie says tiredly. She flops back on his bed. “You should have seen her face when I said I was going to take her home, she’s terrified of them. I can’t make her go back.” 

“You can’t free every single metahuman that’s been mistreated by the government,” Tim says. “That would take years of efforts.”

Cassie glares at the ceiling. “Watch me.” 

“Finding them, getting them out, therapy and cognitive behavioral training to try to undo the damage that the government has done,” Tim rattles off, spinning around in his chair. “All the stress and work would drive you insane.”

“Your time in evil Earth made you a pessimist,” Cassie says. 

“I’ve always been a pessimist,” Tim replies. “Okay, given the resources from the DEO and my own detective intuition, this is what I’ve been able to put together: the DEO is holding her against her will.”

Cassie sits up and squints at him. “That’s it?”

“There isn’t a lot to go on,” Tim tells her. He points at his monitors. “Alright, so. They found her when she was hanging out in this old foreclosed house in Chicago and neighbors were complaining and stuff, they grabbed her, and they’ve been holding her in an ‘orphanage’ run by the DEO. This orphanage holds about a dozen metahuman children in terrible conditions, which aren’t held up by any policies. She escaped three days ago, we got her, and now she’s here. That’s about as much as I’ve got for a bio right now.” 

“We gotta help the other kids,” Cassie says. 

Tim puts a hand on her shoulder. “One thing at a time. Do you have any plans on how to get them to let us keep her here?”

“I mean, we could just not give her back,” Cassie tries. “What are they going to do, kill us?”

“They might,” Tim says. 

“You’re not helping,” Cassie groans. 

There’s a knock on the door and it slides open to show Conner. “Hey, um, Red Tornado just told Batman that we have the Mist Girl.”

Both Tim and Cassie jump to their feet and run to the team room. Red Tornado is in the middle of the team room, in a video call with Batman, who is up on the display screen. He’s wearing his cowl, so they can’t see his face, but they’ve got a good guess that he’s frowning very hard at them right now. 

“Why didn’t you tell me that you found the girl?” he asks immediately. 

Tim looks at Cassie, obviously letting her give the explanation. “I’m sorry, I forgot.” 

“You can’t forget things like this,” Batman says. “If you can’t follow directions, you won’t be given missions anymore. I’m on my way over with the director of the DEO right now.” 

“What? No, no, no,” Cassie blurts, waving her hands frantically. “No, um, I don’t think she’s ready to go back to the DEO.” 

Batman doesn’t seem very impressed. “That isn’t your decision to make.” 

“It actually is because, uh, she’s here in our cave now,” Cassie puts together slowly. “And we’re going to keep her here for a while. Please. Thank you.” 

“Tim,” Batman says, looking to his son. 

Tim puts his hands up. “I’m not on the team. It’s not up to me.” 

Batman looks to Red Tornado for some sort of support but Red Tornado lets him know that he will do whatever is in the best interest of the children. 

“You’re welcome to visit, but you’re not taking her,” Cassie says. “So, uh, jot that down.” 

“I don’t have time for this,” Batman mumbles, and he turns off his side of the video call. 

“What’s the plan here?” Conner asks. 

Cassie sighs and shrugs. “I have no idea. I’m going to go check on Bart and see if they’re okay. Stall Batman if he shows up.” 

She leaves the boys in the team room and they stand in silence for a while. 

“What did you find out about her?” Conner asks eventually. 

“Not a whole lot more than we knew before,” Tim replies. “Cassie’s planning on leading a crusade against the DEO and we are majorly screwed if Batman puts up a fight.” 

The tubes announce an arrival and they wait apprehensively until Jaime walks in. He looks at them curiously and they look back at him. “Is Bart still with the girl?” 

“Yeah,” Conner says. 

“Cool.” Jaime moves between them to sit down on the couch and pull his phone out of his pocket. “I didn’t get to hear about how your expedition went.”

“We didn’t get up to much, just some quality bro time,” Conner says. 

“Sounds fun,” Jaime says, not looking up from his phone. “Do you know when Bart will be done?” 

Tim snorts out a breathy laugh and crosses his arms. “Can you spend fifteen minutes without him?” 

“I could, but I’d rather not. Does that mean he’ll be done in fifteen minutes?”

“Jesus Christ,” Tim mutters and he goes into the kitchen. 

Conner considers his options before going to sit down on the couch with Jaime, leaving a good amount of space between them. “Do you need Bart for anything?” 

Jaime looks up from his phone. “Uh, no, not really, I just haven’t seen him in a couple of days.”

“How often do you guys see each other?” Conner asks. “Like, not on team time?” 

“Pretty much everyday,” Jaime answers. “He’ll come over and we’ll hang out in El Paso or we’ll meet here. I’ve been to Central City a couple times but you know he’s got a thing about bothering his grandparents.”

“You go on dates everyday?” Conner asks incredulously. 

Jaime frowns, thinking about it for a bit. “I mean, I guess they’re dates, but I don’t really think about it like that. We just like spending time together.” 

“Don’t you need space or whatever?” Conner asks. 

“Well, yeah, everyone needs some alone time,” Jaime says. “We don’t spend every waking moment together, I spend time with my family and I have to go to school and church and stuff, and he’s got his own life that he has to pay attention to.”

Conner doesn’t know if he’s ever had a conversation this long with Jaime before but he can’t stop asking questions. “How do you make time to see each other everyday?”

“It’s not like we have to make time to see each other,” Jaime tells him. “We just sort of do it. We don’t really plan anything out, we just sort of show up for each other. If one of us doesn’t feel like it, we’ll just text or call. I mean, come on, you see Cassie off team all the time, right?” 

“Only because we go to the same school,” Conner points out. 

“You go on dates, though?” Jaime asks, perplexed. “You, like, hang out and stuff?” 

“Yeah, but maybe once every couple weeks,” Conner says. 

“All relationships are different, bro, I’m not trying to make you feel insecure or anything,” Jaime says. “You don’t have to go on dates everyday for it to be real. What matters is that you really like her. You like spending time with her, you like hearing her laugh, you like making her smile, sappy shit like that, you know?” 

“You feel that way about Bart?” Conner asks. 

Jaime looks at Conner like he’s crazy. “Are you serious? I wanna spend the rest of my life with him, and if there’s anything after, I want to spend that with him as well.”

“That’s a lot of time,” Conner says quietly. 

“It’s never enough,” Jaime says. 

“How do you know?” Conner asks. “Like, how do you know that you feel that way about him?”

“I don’t know, I mean, when you know, you know,” Jaime says, shrugging. “You know?”

Bart comes into the team room then, cutting their conversation short, and squeals when he sees Jaime. He zooms over to jump into his boyfriend’s lap and starts peppering kisses all over his face. Jaime eventually gets Bart off of him and pulls him in the direction of their rooms with a mumbled explanation about making Conner feel uncomfortable. 

He’s left to sit alone with his feelings and his thoughts, two things he’s never been a fan of. He’s been alive for about a year and a half now and there are still a lot of things about being Conner Kent - Kon-El - that don’t make a lot of sense. He’s not sure how real his feelings are. He’s a clone, so he’s not exactly a real person, but he’s organic rather than robotic. It’s all been explained to him before by Tim and Bart and Luthor but his smarts have never been something he’s prided himself in. 

What Jaime said sticks with him. He and Cassie really like each other the way Jaime explained it. At least he thinks they do. They haven’t spent a lot of time together since they started dating, which has been a good seven months. They don’t share any classes this year but their friend groups converged so they eat lunch together. They hung out a lot more before they started dating, funnily enough. He isn’t sure why. Cassie will drop in at his apartment every now and then when her mom is on her ass but outside of school and the team, they don’t do a lot together. He guesses they could be sort of distant because of all the stress they’ve been under. 

He likes spending time with her and he likes hearing her laugh and he likes making her smile. He doesn’t know if he’d like to spend the rest of his life with her but he doesn’t think he has to know right now. When he thinks about the rest of his life, he doesn’t see much. He doesn’t think about it a lot. Considering their line of work and how he was created, he isn’t sure how much longer he’s got. He doesn’t know if he’ll die young or live forever. 

Cassie Sandsmark is a smart, capable, beautiful, wonderful young woman who is also part god, so she won’t die unless she’s killed, which won’t happen, so it’s unlikely that she’ll get married to the first guy that she dates. 

Are they going to spend the rest of their lives together? Probably not. That’s a big doubt. But they’re happy together. They’re happy when they’re together. 

“Tweedle Dee and Tweedle Dum gone off to their love making shack?” Tim says and Conner almost jumps off the couch from being startled. 

“Uh, yes. No. I don’t know, I don’t think about that,” Conner says awkwardly. He clears his throat and rubs his hands on his pants. “Have you ever been in love?”

Tim gives him a weird look and sits down on the other end of the couch with a sandwich on a paper plate. “Not that I know of, no. I mean, I’ve had crushes and I’ve been with people, but none of it was love. I think one time I thought I was in love, but I wasn’t.” 

“How did you know?” 

“I just knew.” 

“Are you sure?” 

“I’m pretty sure I’ve never been in love,” Tim assures Conner. He takes a bite of his sandwich. “Why are you asking?”

“Jaime said some stuff, I don’t know,” Conner says. 

Tim sighs. “Don’t let Jaime and Bart be your standards for what a relationship should be like. They’re one in a million.” 

“But like. What if I don’t love Cassie?” Conner says. 

“Uh.” Tim scrambles for words to say in response to the fucking bomb that Conner just dropped. “Then you have to tell her. Look, bro, you do you, figure out what it is you’re trying to do with Cassie, and I’ll support you all the way but I’m maybe not the right person to come to for relationship advice.” 

“I don’t have anyone else to ask,” Conner says. 

Tim shifts in his seat and takes a bite of his sandwich. “What did Jaime say to you?” 

“He was just talking about how much time he spends with Bart and how he feels about him and, I don’t know, I guess it’s just not like that with me and Cassie,” Conner says. “It made me start to think.”

“Oh, god, no,” Tim deadpans. Conner gives him a look and he puts his sandwich on the floor to clap his hands together. “You know, I met both you and Cassie of Earth-23.”

“Were we together?” Conner asks. 

“No,” Tim tells him. “Barbara had my double killed not long after she brought me there so I could pose as him. Earth-23 Cassie was leading her own troop of Amazons and Earth-23 Conner was here at the cave. The first day I walked in, he was sitting here, on this couch. He hugged me and he started talking about all this stuff that I didn’t know anything about and I thought that maybe he wasn’t so bad, but I was wrong, because he did horrible things. It was like he had no idea that what he was doing was wrong, he just did it and he came back to me and started talking about dinner. For a while, I kept associating him with you, but I eventually realized that you’re two different entities. Six months in, he kissed me for the first time. It was so weird, he was a whole different person when he was with me, he was adoring and attentive and he always seemed so genuinely happy to see me, and it was so hard to not fall into the fantasy. I had to remember what I was there for, what was happening, and I tried to - to harden my heart, and remind myself that I had a job to do, but then he’d turn around and be so sweet, and I fell for it all over again.”

Part of Conner feels horrified by what Tim is telling him and part of him is entranced by the story, like it’s a novel or one of those Lifetime movies that Cassie makes him watch. “Dude, that’s so fucking sad. You said you killed him.” 

“I did,” Tim says. “You asked me if I’ve ever been in love and I said that I thought I was. I thought I was in love with him. I knew he was in love with me and I thought that maybe I could convince him to do the right thing, but he found out what I was there for, and he turned me in. He oversaw the torture they put me through, and, yeah, that was about it for the love. When the time came, I killed him. I had to.” 

“That’s a really crazy story and I really enjoyed it - I mean, I’m so sorry you went through that, but it’s a good story - but how exactly is that supposed to help me right now?” Conner says. “That’s a lot different than what I’m going through with Cassie.” 

Tim shrugs and picks up his plate form the floor. “I just want you to know that everyone is different. I can’t tell you what to think. You have to come to your own conclusions by yourself, or they won’t be yours.”

“You got weird on Earth-23,” Conner remarks. 

“Uh, duh, weird shit happened to me,” Tim replies. “Three years, man. I am a changed person.”

“It wasn’t - wasn’t it hard to see us? After everything we put you through?” Conner asks curiously. “I mean, wasn’t it weird? At least a little?” 

“I told you, I stopped associating Earth-23 people from the people here pretty early on,” Tim says. “Yeah, it’s a bit unnerving that you all look the same, but you’re different. I know that.” 

“Did it change the way you think about me?” Conner asks. “With the whole being in love and then torturing each other thing?” 

“At the beginning, yeah,” Tim admits. “Every time I saw your face I didn’t know if I wanted to kiss you or punch you, but, it wasn’t you that did all that to me. It was someone else.” 

Conner lets out a deep breath. “I’m so sorry you had to go through that.” 

“Again. Not your fault,” Tim says. He finishes off his sandwich. “Stop thinking for a while, you’re gonna hurt your pretty little head. Watch  _ Twilight _ or something. I’m sure Cassie will be done soon.” 

He flips over the back of the couch and goes back to the kitchen to dispose of his plate, leaving Conner in the team room by himself yet again. 

 

That night, Conner has a dream. He usually has dreams, but they’re often just crappy little scenarios like walking in on Superman washing grapes in the bathtub or Kacey Musgraves following him around and serenading him during finals week. 

This dream is different because it has real, actual substance that might mean something.  

In his dream, he’s in the team cave. He’s sitting on the couch with Tim’s head in his lap. Tim seems to be sleeping while Conner threads his hands through his hair, silently marveling in how soft it is. He’s looking down at Tim and has a weird feeling that he’s never felt before, like he’d do anything, literally anything, to keep him looking this happy, this peaceful. 

Tim wakes up and blinks a couple times before pushing himself up off of Conner’s lap. Conner smiles at him and leans in to press a kiss against his lips.

“Don’t,” Tim says, and his voice is groggy. He leans away and rubs his eyes. “I’m always gross after a nap. I drool.” 

“I know,” Conner replies. He reaches out to run his thumb over Tim’s bottom lip. “It’s disgusting.” 

“If it’s so disgusting, then don’t let me nap on you,” Tim says. 

Conner smiles and shakes his head. “But you’re so cute when you sleep.” 

“Oh, so now you’re watching me while I sleep?”

“What else do you expect me to do?” Conner tugs Tim so that he’s sitting in his lap. 

“Literally anything else,” Tim says, resting his hands on Conner’s shoulders. 

“Anything?” Conner asks. 

“ _ Anything _ .” 

They’re a breath away from each other when Cassie comes in from the kitchen, and they just barely pull apart to turn to her. She stares at them blankly, like she’s figuring out how she’s supposed to react to this. 

An excruciatingly silent moment passes before she lets out a humorless laugh. “God, you know, I knew it, but I just pretended that I didn’t.” 

“Cassie, no,” Conner says, pushing Tim off of him. 

“You never really wanted  _ me _ , did you?” Cassie says. “All this time, it was Tim you wanted, but he was never available, so you just dumped it all on the next person you saw.” 

“No,” Conner repeats. He stands up and reaches out to touch Cassie but she swats his hand away. “Come on, Cass.” 

“Don’t call me that, not right now,” Cassie snaps. “Just - just tell me one thing. Do you want to be with me?” 

Conner’s heart falls to his stomach. “I don’t want to hurt you. I never wanted to hurt you.” 

“That’s not what I asked.” 

“What do you want me to tell you?” Conner says, growing desperate. 

“I want you to tell the truth!” Cassie says. “Do you want to be with me?” 

Conner wakes up then, in a cold sweat with his heart racing. He’s been yelled at by Cassie twice, maybe three times, and it’s always a terrifying experience, because she doesn’t get mad. Sure, she’s snarky and impulsive, and she gets irritated, but she never gets mad, so when she’s mad, she’s _mad_. 

_ “I don’t want to hurt you,”  _ Conner had said. 

_ “That’s not what I asked,”  _ Cassie had replied.  _ “I want you to tell the truth!”  _

Conner had told the truth. He doesn’t want to hurt her, that’s the last thing he would ever want to do. He thinks about what he wants and, for a while, he doesn’t know. He doesn’t want to hurt Cassie, but he can practically hear her voice telling him that not wanting to hurt her isn’t the same as wanting to be with her. 

“Shit,” Conner says, rubbing his face. 

He has to break up with Cassie. 

  
  



	5. All You Wanna Do Is

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> sorry for the long wait, I was just. not motivated lol but I'm back and I'll hopefully update more consistently again!!

“Hey,” Tim says, knocking his fist against the doorframe of Cassie’s room. “Can you come to the manor with me? I haven’t heard anything from Bruce since he said he was coming yesterday and I’m a little concerned.”

“I’m in the middle of something,” Cassie says, not looking up from where she’s focused on styling the mist girl’s hair at her vanity.

Tim sighs. “Is braiding Mist Girl’s hair more important than my father’s life?”

“We’re calling her Suzie for now,” Cassie replies. “And, honestly, yeah, I don’t think we have to rush to the aid of Batman himself. I’m almost done, wait for me in the team room.”

“Okay.” Tim closes the door behind him as he leaves.

“I don’t want to be a burden.” Suzie’s voice is quiet but it carries, almost like she’s a voice in your head. “You can go do your team thing.”

“No, no, it’s probably not that important,” Cassie assures her. She loops a hair tie around the end of the braid. “There. You look so pretty. Now, since your hair is wet, it’ll dry all loopy like this and it’ll be curly when you take the braid out.”

“Thank you,” Suzie says.

Cassie pats her head. “Do you want to go back to your room or do you want to hang out with Conner?”

Suzie shrugs. “I don’t know.”

“Okay, come on.” Cassie grabs Suzie’s hand and pulls her out to the kitchen. “Hey, Kon, sit with Suzie a bit?”

Conner looks up from his bowl of oatmeal that he doesn’t look anywhere near close to finishing. “Sure. I wanted to talk to you about something.”

“Yeah, I’m dealing with some bat stuff right now, we’ll talk later,” Cassie says. She pulls out a chair at the table for Suzie. “Just make sure she doesn’t die until I get back.”

“It’s actually kind of important,” Conner says.

“And we will talk about it, I promise, but I’ve got Tim to get to,” Cassie says. She looks at his bowl. “Stop making yourself oatmeal, you never finish it.”

Conner mumbles a response and Cassie leaves them to go to the team room where Tim is standing at the display monitors.

“He won’t respond to my texts and Alfred isn’t picking up the phone,” Tim says, jumping right into it.

“Why don’t you ask Nightwing to check?” Cassie suggests.

“He’s busy right now,” Tim replies. “Come on, it’ll be quick, I just want to see if everything at the manor is okay.”

Cassie sighs and runs a hand over her face. “Okay. Let’s suit up and bring Jaime and Bart just in case. Do you think Damian should come?”

“No, I have a really bad feeling that there’s something wrong and I don’t want to put him in too much danger,” Tim says.

“Oh, but you’re fine pulling me into it?” Cassie says.

“You are not my little brother,” Tim tells her. “I’ll suit up and get the van ready.”

They part ways and Cassie takes a deep breath to sort herself out. She’s used to having a lot on her plate. She’s the vice president of the Asian Student Union at her high school this year, as well as being involved in two other clubs, she’s taking two AP classes this year, along with the rest of her classes being honors, she’s in the middle of applying for college, she works the reception at her aunt’s hair salon three days a week, and that’s just her civilian life. On Wonder Girl time, she’s the leader of the team, which means that Red Tornado contacts her about all the missions, and everyone comes to her for help with whatever problems they’re having. Right now, she’s got homework waiting for her at home, a mysterious ghost girl that she’s trying to protect from the government, and Tim’s whole weird vibe about Batman being in trouble. She’s tired and she just wants to sleep, but she can’t. She just has to breathe and remember what she can from that one management course that her mom forced her to take when she was in seventh grade.

“Hey, Bart,” she says, knocking on his door. “Is Jaime here?”

Bart opens the door and she can see Jaime sitting on the floor with his laptop. “Yeah, what’s up?”

“I want you guys to come with me and Tim to the manor real quick, he’s worried that something is wrong with his dad,” Cassie says. “Suit up and meet us at the tube.”

“Sure thing, mamacita,” Bart says. “See you in a bit.”

The door closes in her face and she turns to go to the locker room to put on her suit. Conner walks in while she’s pulling on her pants.

“We need to talk,” he says.

“I’m really busy right now, but I’ll hopefully be back in an hour or so,” Cassie says.

Conner leans against the lockers and watches her pull her boots on. “I really think we should talk about it right now before going forward.”

“What do you mean?” Cassie asks, frowning at him.

“I’ve just been thinking a lot, like I’ve done more thinking in the past two days than I have my whole life,” Conner says. “And, like, looking inside myself, emotionally.”

Cassie squints at him, trying to figure out if he’s joking or not. “Good for you? We can have a heart to heart when I get back, but I _really_ need to go.”

“I don’t know how to say this without it sounding bad,” Conner says, following her out of the locker room, “or without hurting you, but I really need to say it before I chicken out and it’s too late.”

“Go for it,” Cassie mutters, adjusting her arm bands.

“It’s just that with Tim back and Jaime and Bart and that Suzie girl, there’s been a lot going on and I know that we’re both super busy -”

“One of us more than the other, apparently.”

“- and we haven’t had time to really talk recently, but I had a really eye opening dream, and Tim told me a crazy story that I can’t stop thinking about -”

“Uh-huh.”

“Cassie, I’m trying to break up with you.”

Cassie stops walking and turns to Conner. They’re right in front of the zeta-tube, and Jaime and Bart have stopped their own conversation to listen in, and Conner is looking down at Cassie like she’s some sort of injured animal.

“Why?” Cassie asks.

“You’re wonderful and you’re beautiful and I like you so, so much, but there’s just not enough here,” Conner tells her, like he’s been rehearsing that line in his head for hours.

Cassie crosses her arms and tries stay composed. “Not enough of what?”

“ _Want_ ,” Conner says. “I kept thinking about what I really want and I don’t want to hurt you, but that’s -”

“Not the same as wanting me,” Cassie finishes for him. She can hardly believe what’s happening, and all that she can hear is the sound of rushing water in her ears, like she’s trying to block it all out, like if she doesn’t hear it, it won’t be real. “You don’t want me.”

“I’m sorry,” Conner says quietly. “Cass, I’m so sorry.”

“It’s Tim, isn’t it?” Cassie says.

Conner sighs and shakes his head. “Not exactly? I mean, kind of, we were talking and he gave me a lot to think about, and I just - I know what I want now and I can’t keep this up with you if it’s not what I want, it’s not fair to either of us, especially to you. You deserve to be with someone who wants to be with you.”

“Yeah, I do,” Cassie agrees. She wipes her face with the heel of her hand and turns to leave. “I have to go.”

“Wait, please, Cassie, you’re still my best friend, and the best team leader we’ve had, and I don’t want to ruin that,” Conner pleads, following her.

Cassie spins around to put a hand on his chest and gently push him away. “I’m glad that you’ve figured out what you really want, but I can’t be around you right now, and I’m going to need some space for a while, so just leave me alone.”

She walks to the zeta-tube and it announces her exit. When she gets through, she’s in a broken telephone booth in a dirty alley in Gotham City, and Tim is in the van already, parked against a brick building. She goes to join him and Bart and Jaime come through right after her.

“Hey, Cassie, I’m sorry,” Jaime says, putting a hand on her shoulder.

Tim frowns as he starts up the van. “What happened?”

“Nothing,” Cassie mutters.

“She got dumped,” Bart whispers loudly, and Jaime smacks him.

“Oh, god.” Tim stalls the van and turns to face her. “Are you okay?”

“I’m fine,” Cassie snaps. “Let’s just go to the manor.”

“Are you sure?” Tim asks. “Jaime and I could go by ourselves and you and Bart could just go back to the cave.”

“I’m not going back to the cave, Tim, just drive,” Cassie says.

Tim looks at Bart, who shrugs, and does as he’s told.

The drive to the manor is quiet and tense. Tim wants to ask questions but he doesn’t want to make Cassie more upset. She keeps her arms crossed as she glares out the window, while Bart and Jaime take turns looking at each other when the other is looking away.

Tim hits the brakes when they come up to the front gate and leans forward against the steering wheel to squint at the house up the hill. “I knew it.”

“Knew what?” Jaime asks.

“We have a security system,” Tim explains, backing out of the driveway. “If there’s something wrong and they can’t call us, Alfred’s got a remote that will pull out blue curtains on the top floor. That way we’ll know when we come back. If you can see, the curtains up there are blue.”

“What do we do?” Cassie asks.

“I’m gonna go around to the back of the estate, there’s a tunnel that leads to a shelter on the other side of the lake,” Tim says. “There’s a surveillance center in there that we can check to see what’s going on.”

“Bart, call Conner and tell him to be on standby,” Cassie says. “Is there a way we can let Nightwing know what’s happening?”

“Y’all got some sort of special bat family psychic communication?” Bart says.

Tim rolls his eyes. “I’ll take care of Nightwing.”

It takes a couple minutes for them to drive around the fence and Tim fiddles with some little trinkets in his utility belt before the ground in front of them drops.

“Oh, shit,” Bart gasps. “You meant, like, a secret tunnel.”

“Your dad is hella paranoid,” Jaime adds.

“It’s only paranoid if there’s no real threat.” Tim slowly starts rolling them down through the tunnel. “Obviously, the threat is very real.”

“Was this always here or did Batman make it when he became Batman?” Cassie asks, looking out her window.

Tim shrugs. “I don’t know, I never asked.”

They eventually make it to a thick metal garage door that opens for them and Tim pulls them in. The shelter is everything that Cassie expected it to be - steel and dusty, filled with gadgets and devices, barack looking beds, and a kitchen.

“Damn, I know where I’m going when the world inevitably ends in thirty years,” Bart mutters.

They all get out of the van and follow Tim to the security center. He turns it on and dozens of monitors light up, each showing a different section of the manor.

“Oh my god. Uh, oh my god,” Cassie says awkwardly, pointing at the monitors near the top right. “What the hell is that?”

There are huge, bug-like monstrosities crawling around the east wing of the manor. They are truly, truly disgusting, uglier than anything Cassie has ever seen in her entire life.

“How did they get inside the house and why didn’t Batman just take them all out?” Bart asks. “They don’t look super intelligent.”

Tim squints at the monitors. “That’s exactly what I’m thinking.”

“There! He’s right there,” Cassie says, pointing at another monitor in the center. Batman is wearing business casual clothes, like he just got home from a day at the mall, lying motionless on the carpeted floor of his bedroom. “Shit, is he dead? He can’t be dead. Can Batman die?”

“Those things couldn’t have done that to him,” Tim says. “They have to have some kind of master, or hive mind control.”

Cassie nudges Tim with her elbow. “There’s a guy in the foyer.”

“Ooh, he looks evil,” Jaime remarks. “Who is he? Do we know him?”

The man is tall and thin, dressed in all black, with a plague doctor mask covering his face. He’s sitting on the chaise with his hands folded in his lap. There’s something especially creepy about him that makes Cassie’s spine tingle.

“He’s familiar but I don’t know how,” Tim says. He enlarges the image of the man on a bigger screen off to the side. “I’ll see if I can match his description to anyone in the League’s database.”

Bart tugs on Cassie’s arm and she turns to face him. “I told Conner that Batman’s been compromised and he said he’s on his way with Damian and Suzie should be secure until we’re done.”

Cassie nods. “Good. We’ll need his help to take out those bug things.”

“But are you sure -”

“I’m not going to let my personal life affect team missions, especially when there are lives at stake,” Cassie says sharply.

Bart gives her a sad look but doesn’t push it.

“Shit, shit, shit, shit, shit,” Tim exclaims suddenly. He pulls a USB flash drive out of his utility belt and plugs it in to the computer. “Shit, shit, shit.”

“Hey, bud, how’s it going?” Jaime asks.

Tim opens the file that he had on the flash drive and starts combing through folders. “I brought an index from the Justice League of Earth-23 just in case I needed it for anything,” he tells them. He opens a file that has what looks like a mugshot of the man sitting in the foyer. “His name is Metus. I heard the Batman over there mention him a couple times but I never saw him.”

“You knew that someone from Earth-23 was going to come here,” Cassie says, thinking back to their first conversation when he returned. “Is that the real reason why you came back? Are you here for him?”

“I came back because I wanted to come home, I just knew that there was a possibility that I would be followed,” Tim says. He closes the file and goes back to the van. “We have to go in and stop him.”

“How exactly are we supposed to stop him?” Bart asks. “I mean, who even is this guy? How’d he get here and how did he do that to Batman?”

“He’s a god,” Tim says. “The god of fear. All we have to do is not be scared of him and it shouldn’t be hard to kill him.”

“You say that like it’s so easy,” Jaime says. “Tim, the dude has an army of bugs.”

“ _You’re_ a bug,” Tim points out.

“That is so different,” Jaime says.

“How are you planning on getting to the manor?” Cassie asks Tim.

“There’s a boat in here. We can take it on the lake and sneak in through the Batcave,” Tim says. He leads them through a series of doors to get to a dock with a sleek, black motorboat that looks exactly like what one of Batman’s boats would look like. “All aboard. We have gods to kill.”

 

Tim glances over his shoulder at Cassie, who’s two steps behind him. They’d let themselves into the manor and left Jaime in the boat to wait for Conner and Damian to show up. It’s obvious that she’s trying to act like everything is normal but she’s just having a really bad time and he can’t help but feel responsible. He was the one that told Conner all that stuff yesterday, and he told Conner that he should tell Cassie that he didn’t love her.

“I’m sorry,” he says quietly.

Cassie looks at him, seeming perplexed as to why he would apologize. “It’s fine.”

“I know what it’s like to have your heart broken by Conner,” Tim says. “We were kind of an item on Earth-23, it’s a long story, but I ended up killing him, it wasn’t fun for anyone, overall.”

“Oh, I wouldn’t say he broke my heart, just really hurt my feelings,” Cassie says. She lets out a deep breath. “You know what’s so funny? I’ve kind of been waiting for this to happen since we first started dating. I knew that this would happen but I thought that maybe I was wrong, I was just being insecure.”

“I’m really sorry,” Tim repeats. “I wish I could do something to make it better.”

“It’s not your fault,” Cassie says, looking at him with earnest eyes. “I promise, I don’t blame any of this on you, okay? It wasn’t you or me, it was all him. It’s not our fault he’s such a dumbass.”

Tim laughs a little. “Yeah.”

“I thought we were supposed to be fucking quiet,” Bart hisses from his place at the front of their parade. “Which way to his room?”

“Take a left at the top of the stairs,” Tim says.

Bart does as he’s told, and the other two follow him. He pushes the door in, careful to not make any sound. “How exactly are we supposed to get him out of here without those bug things finding us?”

“You can’t just zoom out?” Cassie says. “You know, just - pick him up and run out all quick like?”

“Do I look like I can pick him up?” Bart snaps, waving his arms. “These are as thick as stick bugs.”

“Okay, well, I’ll pick him up, you two cover me while we run back out to the boat,” Cassie says. She spreads her hands and looks at her boys expectantly. “Cool?”

“Yeah, cool.”

“Lit.”

They make their way into the room and Cassie immediately holds out a hand to stop the other two. “There’s a thing in here.”

“A what?” Tim asks, frowning.

“One of those fucking bug things!” Cassie says. “What are we supposed to do?”

“Uh, fucking run,” Bart blurts. He turns to leave the way they cam and Tim catches him arm. “Dude, I’m scared, I wanna go home!”

Footsteps clack towards them, like claws on tile, and they’re all caught frozen in place as the big bug thing looms over them. It’s got hundreds of beady little eyes on its head that are looking right at them.

“Oh my god,” Cassie mutters under her breath. “It is so ugly.”

“Don’t be rude,” Tim says and she gives him a glare.

They stare at the bug thing and the bug thing stares at them for a while until it lunges towards them and Bart shrieks at the top of his lungs. Cassie instinctively punches its head and, to their horror, it lobs to one side, stretching out like gum. After a second, it whips back to the body.

“Oh my god!” Bart screams.

“What the hell,” Tim says.

Cassie backs up, wringing her wrist. “Okay, I hate this.”

The bug thing lunges forward again and this time Tim steps up, whipping out his staff. They spar for a couple moments until Cassie comes up from behind, wraps her whips around its head, and yanks as hard as she can. The head comes clean off and the body disintegrates into a pile of dust on the floor. They stand there, staring it in silence.

“Well, we know how to kill them now,” Bart says after a second.

“Foolish children,” a booming voice says, echoing through the room. They all step closer to each other and Bart grabs Tim’s hand. “You think I wouldn’t notice you trying to sneak in?”

“Dude, if the fucking Phantom from _Phantom of the Opera_ is here, I’m gonna dip so quick,” Bart says.

“Playtime is over,” the voice says. “You’re in my house now.”

Everything goes black.

  



	6. I Hear the Walls Repeating

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> hey. i’m back on my young justice shit so here you go. sorry about the wait, i’m trying really hard

Tim isn’t in the manor anymore. He’s in someone’s extremely large yard, during a party. He doesn’t even know whose yard it is, but it’s definitely not at the manor. It’s a warm summer day and people are milling about around him. He looks down to see himself dressed in a white suit. 

“Tim!” 

Tim spins around to see a tall man walking up to him. He’s wearing a dark red suit and his hair is slightly messy from the warm breeze passing through. 

“Jason?” Tim says, his voice barely a whisper as it hits him.

_ Jason isn’t alive.  _ Tim had never even spoken to Jason, all he knows of him are the various pictures around the manor and stories that Bruce and Dick have told him, but he never met Jason because Jason died before Tim became Robin. From what Tim has seen, though, Jason didn’t have that sharp of a jawline and he definitely wasn’t that tall. He died when he was fifteen, he shouldn’t look this mature. 

Jason raises his eyebrows. “Uh, yes? Come on, they’re dancing.” 

“What? Who?” Tim asks. 

Jason grabs Tim’s arm and pulls him toward a wooden square set up in the grass, surrounded by tables. Bruce and Diana are seated together, looking incredibly hot and impeccably dressed, like they’re at one of Bruce’s functions. Jaime and Bart are obviously sitting next to each other, both of them preoccupied with the cake. It’s the first time Tim has ever seen Bart in a suit. He looks somewhat confined and his tie is a little crooked. There’s a small band on the stage, playing a slow song. He lets Jason pull him, until he realizes who is on the floor dancing. 

The man is wrenchingly familiar, from the way the suit tightly hugs his shoulders to the confidence in his movements, and the small smile of inexplicable happiness on his face. And the girl he’s dancing with. She looks stunning in her strapless white dress that flows into a short train around her ankles. The way her arms are wrapped about her partner’s neck doesn’t look endearing or affectionate but a bit territorial, almost possessive. When her eyes flick over to Tim, a small smile crosses her features and he doesn’t have to wonder who she is anymore. 

“What’s wrong, baby bird?” Jason asks, coming up close behind him. “Aren’t you going to sit down?” 

Tim shakes his head. “Are they - is this a marriage?” he asks, frowning. “Why are they…?”

“Yes, it’s a marriage,” Jason says. “You’ve been helping them plan their wedding for months.”

“Who?” Tim stutters, not able to take his eyes off the couple.

Jason hikes an eyebrow. “Conner and Cassie? Dude, are you okay?”

Conner opens his eyes and looks at Tim. They stare at each other for a few moments. Tim takes a sharp breath and turns, tearing his eyes away. He walks away briskly, balling his hands into fists and ignoring Jason calling out after him. 

Tim gets a good distance away before he realizes that his eyes are filled to the brim with tears. He takes a shaky breath and shuts his eyes. There’s a hand on his shoulders and he turns to see Jason again. 

“You are so naive,” he says icily. “How could you possibly believe that Conner would ever want you? That he would leave someone as perfect as Cassie for a mess like you? He made a mistake and he fixed it.”

“What the hell are you talking about?” Tim asks. 

Jason comes to stand beside him, not looking him in the eye. “You’re never going to get what you want. You’re the worst Robin, your father hated you, your friends were better off without you, and Conner will never want you back. You’re a discount Dick Grayson, a shitty replacement for me that Bruce didn’t even want. You will  _ never _ be us. You will never be enough.”

 

When Cassie opens her eyes, she’s surprised by how bright it is. It’s bright and hot and humid and she can hear wind and waves crashing somewhere near her. She’s standing in an open field of grass, wearing Amazonian armor, which she hasn’t worn since Diana took her to Themyscira to train three years ago. 

Something warm, wet, and sticky is on her hands and she looks down to see that they’re covered in blood. She almost screams but she bites her tongue. 

She looks over the grassy field she’s standing in and sees dozens of dead Amazonians - her  _ sisters _ . There’s no way something could have defeated the strongest women in the world like this.

She hears someone calling her name and she turns just before Diana wraps her hand around her throat and lifts her in the air. She gasps and reaches down to grab Diana’s wrist, even though she knows there’s nothing she can do to stop her. Diana is looking at her with pure hatred. She’s been angry at Cassie, and yeah, she’s yelled at her before, but she’s never looked at Cassie like this, like she wants her dead. 

“You did this,” Diana says. Cassie shakes her head and kicks her feet. “You did this to them.” 

Diana tosses her to the ground and she coughs as air rushes back into her lungs. 

“Diana,” she manages to get out. “I didn’t -”

Diana kicks her down again and then steps on her chest for good measure. “I should never have trusted you. You are nothing but a foolish, impudent child.” 

Cassie takes short breaths but she knows that she can’t fight Diana. “Please.” 

“You don’t deserve to speak to me.” Diana kneels down beside Cassie, who just watches her with wide, frightened eyes. She puts her hand firmly on Cassie’s chest and Cassie can physically feel her breath leaving her body. It’s a strange experience, almost like her life is being taken out of her, but it doesn’t hurt at all. It’s sort of a relief, but in a sad way, like pulling a sword from her gut when she knows it’ll kill her. 

Diana leaves, taking whatever semblance of hope Cassie had with her. She didn’t say anything but it was obvious what she’d done. 

She took away Cassie’s power. 

So, now, Cassie gets to her feet and she knows that she’s still strong, she can still fight, she still knows how to use a whip, she can still lead her team, but it’s not the same, because she’s no longer Wonder Girl. Being Wonder Girl didn’t define who she was but it sure as hell was a huge part of it. 

_ “Cassie!” _

Themyscira crumbles away and Cassie’s back in the manor. She turns around to see Tim running towards her. He throws himself at her and she catches him, taking a step back so she won’t fall over from the force. 

“What the hell happened?” Cassie asks when they break apart. “Where’d we go?” 

“I told you, he’s the god of fear, he does shit like that,” Tim tells her. “This is gonna be a lot harder than I thought.” 

“Oh, did you think that we’d just come in, knock him on his head, and be home in time for dinner?” Cassie snaps. The sound of the bug things moving around comes closer to them and Cassie grabs Tim and drags him down the hall. “We need to get Batman and Alfred and get out of here, regroup, and figure out what the hell we’re going to do.” 

“Yeah, it doesn’t look like Bruce and Alfred should be at the top of our priority list,” Tim mumbles. 

They back up against the wall as the bug things close in on them. Cassie clenches her fists tightly, taking a few steps back before ramming her heel into the wall. She curses under her breath and looks at the monsters coldly. “There is no way we’re going to be able to be able to get out of here.”

“Well, not with that attitude,” Tim replies, twirling his staff carelessly. 

Cassie looks at him. “Now is not the time for your snarky remarks.” 

“Sorry. Nerves,” Tim replies. A stinger from one of the bug things flies towards Cassie, but before she can react, Tim flicks his hand out and grabs it. 

“Holy shit. You’re like a fucking Matrix character,” Cassie says, staring at the stinger with wide eyes. 

“Yeah, my dad is Batman, I’m a motherfucking ninja,” Tim grumbles.

“Alright,” Cassie said, craning her neck to look around the bug things. “I’m going to sprint, follow close behind.”

Tim nods. “Got it.”

Cassie takes a deep breath and pulls her whips out, running straight into the crowd of monsters. She turns backwards and shoots out her whips, her eyes screwed shut as if she’s just hoping for the best. The whips grab bug things as they move back, clearing the way for her as she runs backwards. She turns back around and runs the rest of the way to the balcony while re-attaching her whips to her belt. Tim follows behind her, taking out his own bugs. 

“Do you trust me?” Cassie asks when they reach the edge of the balcony, leaning over the railing to look at the lake below. 

Tim backs up next to her. “Yeah?”

“Then jump. I’ll be right behind you,” Cassie says. 

“What, no, I don’t like swimming,” Tim says. 

“Fucking whatever, Tim, just jump!” 

Tim vaults the railing and twists his body to dive soundlessly into the lake and Cassie falls in a couple yards away from him. 

“Cassie!” Tim hisses. “Don’t make so much noise! Can’t you fly?”

“Shut the fuck up!” Cassie snaps. “I’m under a lot of pressure right now!” 

Tim rolls his eyes and swims towards the boat. He whacks the side of it. “Jaime!”

Jaime flinches at the sound of his voice and peers over the side. “What the hell?”

“Open the ladder!” Cassie yells up. Jaime unlatches the ladder, and lets it fall into the water. 

Cassie climbs into the boat dripping wet and Tim is right behind her, shaking his head in an attempt to dry his hair out. 

“What happened to you guys?” Jaime asks, handing Cassie a towel. He grabs Tim’s hand and heaves him in. “Where’s Bart?”

“Fucking hallucinated our worst fears or something,” Cassie says, drying her hair. “How the hell are we supposed to get around that guy?”

“Shit, what’d you see?” Jaime asks curiously. 

“Diana took my powers away,” Cassie says. She looks at Tim. “What about you?” 

Tim fidgets awkwardly. “I’d rather not talk about it.”

“Look, Bart, Batman, and Alfred are still in there,” Cassie says. “We need to get them out of there. Why aren’t Conner and Damian here?”

“They’re on their way, they had to bring Suzie,” Jaime tells her. “I’ll go in and look for Bart.” 

“Metus is more powerful than anyone you’ve ever fought, Blue, you can’t go in alone,” Tim says emphatically. “You could get hurt and no one would be able to get to you. We don’t even know where Bart is, he could be anywhere in there, and it’s a big ass house.” 

Jaime activates his suit. “I’ll find him.” 

 

Bart finds himself in El Paso and his feet unconsciously take him to the cute brown house at the end of a quiet street. He knocks on the door and it takes a second to open. Jaime’s there with a wide, uncertain grin, resting a hand on the door frame as he looks down at Bart curiously. 

“Uh, hi,” he says. “Can I help you?” 

Bart tilts his head and frowns. “Yeah, can I come in?” 

“Are you one of those, like, Mormons, or whatever?” Jaime asks. “Because we’ve already found God, and my grandma would rather admit her real age than convert to a white man’s religion.” 

“What? No -”

“Okay, well, whatever you’re selling, we can’t take it, my dad hates solicitors,” Jaime says apologetically. “Sorry, man, I know it’s just your job.” 

Bart’s hand shoots out to hold the door before Jaime can close it. “What are you talking about, dude? I’m not selling anything, it’s me, it’s Bart.” 

Jaime looks at him carefully. “Um. Okay? Should I know who you are? Are you a famous person?”

“Is this a joke?” Bart asks incredulously. He doesn’t know if he should laugh or cry. “Am I being punked right now? Did Damian finally seduce you?” 

“What?” Jaime seems just as confused as Bart is. Someone yells at him from in the house and he holds a hand up before turning to respond.  _ “Es un Mormon, le diré que se vaya.” _

“Jaime, bro, you’re starting to freak me out,” Bart says. “You know, you can just tell me if you’re mad at me.” 

“I’m not mad at you, bro,” Jaime says pointedly. “I don’t even know who you are.” 

Bart narrows his eyes. “Did Damian do something to your brain?” 

“Who the heck is Damian? Why do you keep bringing up Damian?” 

“Jaime, come on” Bart says, ignoring the way his voice cracks. 

There’s more yelling form inside the house. Jaime sighs and turns around to yell back.  _ “¿Ya, que quieres que haga? No se irá, ¿quieres hablar con él? ¿Quieres decirle que de vaya?” _

Bart, for the life of him, cannot figure out what is happening. There is no way that Jaime doesn’t know who he is. Unless, of course, this is a different universe, and Jaime Reyes never met Bart Allen in this universe, but that wouldn’t make sense because Bart doesn’t remember leaving his own universe. He doesn’t really remember how he even got to El Paso. Jaime is just looking at him with empty eyes and Bart feels his heart shatter because Jaime used to look at him like he hung the moon and he’s always thought that their love could transcend realities. 

“Look, I’m sorry, I gotta go,” Jaime says, but he doesn’t seem sorry at all. He doesn’t love Bart, he doesn’t hate Bart, he feels  _ nothing  _ for Bart, which is worse. “Sorry. Bye.” 

The door slams closed in Bart’s face and he’s left staring at the knocker. He’s not going to cry. He won’t cry. Hell, he’s been shot before and he didn’t cry then, so why the fuck would he cry now? 

Not knowing what else to do, he runs to the nearest zeta tube and goes to the cave. It announces him as an unknown presence, just like it did when he first showed up from the future. 

He’s just barely entered the team room when he’s whacked hard on the back of his head and he doubles over. “What the fuck?” 

“Who are you? How did you get here?” Tim’s voice is harsher, colder than it had ever been. Bart blinks hard and looks up to see Tim standing over him with his arms crossed. “I asked you a question.” 

“I’m - I live here,” Bart says breathlessly. “Tim, something is wrong, I don’t know what’s going on, please you have to help me.” 

Tim raises his eyebrows and crouches down to give Bart a good look, and it’s painfully reminiscent of when they first met. “I knew it. Luthor must be using Cadmus’s labs secretly.” 

“Luthor - you mean Conner’s evil dad?” Bart asks. “What does he have to do with this?” 

“You don’t even know what you are,” Tim muses. 

“I do, I know who I am, I’m Bart, I’m your best friend,” Bart rambles, starting to blubber as his eyes fill with tears. “Tim, please, I love you, please don’t do this.” 

Tim looks searchingly into his eyes. “Fascinating.” 

Cassie and Conner enter the team room loudly and Bart looks at Cassie with wide, pleasing eyes. She narrows her eyes back at him and looks at Tim. 

“The fuck is this?” she asks. 

“That’s what I’m trying to figure out,” Tim replies. “He calls himself Bart but he looks just like -”

“Barry,” Conner finishes for him. “You don’t think he’s a clone, do you?” 

“Guys! Are you serious? I’m not a clone!” Bart exclaims. “Cassie, please, please, look at me, remember me, you're the greatest person I know, you’re the only girl I’ve ever loved, please, you have to remember me.” 

Cassie frowns at him. “Kon wasn’t like this when we found him. This is different.” 

Bart can feel tears start to fall down his cheeks. The most important people in his life are looking at him like he’s a raccoon that snuck in through the kitchen door. He cries so hard his stomach begins to cramp and he screws his eyes shut, hoping that maybe when he opens them again he’ll be back -

“Bart!” It’s Jaime’s voice. Bart hiccups and blinks his eyes open just in time to see Jaime shedding his helmet and dropping to his knees to wrap his arms around him.  _ “Perdóname,  _ I should have been here for you.” 

Bart sobs and brings his hands up to clutch Jaime’s arm. “You didn’t -”

_ “Mírame, mi amorcito,”  _ Jaime whispers, holding Bart’s face in his hands. “I’m here, and I’m never going to leave you.”

It takes a couple minutes for Bart to calm himself down and he wipes his face roughly. “Tim and Cassie?” 

“They’re on the boat, they’re safe,” Jaime says. “I need to get you out of here.” 

Bart takes a shaky breath and nods. “Okay.” 

Jaime pulls him to his feet and looks him up and down for a second before scooping him up bridal style. Bart almost laughs, but it gets caught in his throat, and he wraps his arms around Jaime’s neck and rests his head against Jaime’s chest and lets himself be saved. 

 

**Author's Note:**

> visit me on Tumblr @yuhaholic !!


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